Welshman Phillip Price ended a seven-year wait for his second European Tour title with a brilliant victory in the Algarve Portuguese Open at Quintado Lago.
Price carded a superb final round 64, just one shot outside the course record, for a 15-under-par total and two-shot victory over Ireland's PadraigHarrington and Germany's Sven Struver.
Scotland's Alastair Forsyth, Spain's Ignacio Garrido and New Zealand's Stephen Scahill shared fourth place on 11 under with Germany's Alex Cejkaand Australian Brett Rumford another stroke adrift.
Price, whose only other win also came in the Portuguese Open in 1994 at Penha Longa, collected the first prize of Stg£104,000 to move up to sixthplace in the Ryder Cup standings, while Harrington moved above Lee Westwood into second.
Five players began the day tied for the lead on 11-under-par with Price four behind after rounds of 72, 67 and 70.
But it did not take long for the 34-year-old from Pontypridd to make an impression with five birdies in his first six holes taking him into the lead at12-under-par.
A bogey on the seventh where he missed from seven feet for par briefly halted his charge and allowed Yorkshire's Simon Dyson to move into thelead on 13 under with birdies on the second and fourth.
But Dyson fell back when he hit his drive out of bounds on the sixth to run up a double bogey six and when Price birdied the 10th, 13th and 14thto move to 14 under he was two ahead of Harrington, who had made just one birdie on the ninth.
Three putts from 20 feet on the 15th for a bogey from Price gave the chasing pack hope, but he immediately made amends by chipping in for abirdie from just off the green on the 16th and then pitched to within a foot of the hole on the 17th to effectively seal victory.
Harrington had birdied the 13th to keep in touch but when he failed to birdie the par-five 17th he had to settle for his 12th runners-up finish.
Struver kept Price waiting until almost the last moment to be sure of victory after birdies at the 13th, 14th and 17th gave the German a glimmerof hope, but it was asking too much to eagle the 18th and Price, who finished eighth on the Order of Merit last year with four second-placefinishes, began his celebrations.
PA